IRIN Global | FOOD: Another strain of deadly wheat fungus in South Africa | Global | Environment | Food Security | Health & Nutrition

This is a worry for Australia -- spores in the wind:

"There are two possibilities for the [surfacing of] Ug99 variants in South Africa," said Zacharias Pretorius, professor of plant pathology at the University of the Free State, in South Africa. "Firstly, migration of the fungal spores by wind movement from countries to the north of us, where we have detected similar races [mutations]. Secondly, I believe that at least one of the four variants developed locally through mutation."

Fortunately, Pretorius said, the wheat race that seems particularly susceptible to the new Ug99 variant is not very popular among consumers. Still, the emergence of this new rust variant is an indication of how virulent the fungus remains.

It also places the wheat fields in Australia, one of the world’s major producers, under threat. Dave Hodson, a scientist with the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), points out that stem rust spores have travelled from South Africa to Australia three times before – the last time in 1973.

When spores of the fungus travelled from South Africa to Australia in 1969, it caused outbreaks that destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars of wheat.

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